Precisely when the mythological system lost its influence is not known. It is not true, however, as was once generally believed, that immediately after the birth of Jesus the oracles were forever hushed. While, long prior to that event, many fanes had been deserted, yet others continued to flourish for at least two centuries thereafter. Before the Christian era, Mythology had been repudiated by Philosophy and Science. To the learned it was at best but expressive of the principles back of natural phenomena. Only because it was largely identified with the state, did it receive the support of politicians. Yielding to the spirit of Christianity, the Olympian deities departed with the decline of Rome as a pagan power. Of all the shining throng that beautified the Pantheon, Fortuna alone refused to abdicate a sovereignty she would exercise to the end of time. True, the exquisite forms in which she had charmed the eye were destroyed and her temples razed with the earth; yet has Fortuna continued her uninterrupted sway over the hearts of men. Sanctuaries and statutes were not necessary to her supremacy in the world. She was enshrined in the soul--her worship instinctive in the very nature of humanity. Where is the epoch of Christendom in which an innumerable multitude have not worshiped this imperial goddess? Among her devotees may be included men famous in every department of life: politics, statesmanship, war, eloquence, philosophy, science, art, literature and the liberal professions. A review of the brilliant procession is profoundly suggestive. Great Cyrus, who founded the Persian monarchy; Darius, who originated centralized imperialism and reduced it to a system; Artaxerxes Third, the greatest administrator of remote antiquity; Miltiades, a name associated with the glories of Marathon, once designated “freedom’s best and bravest friend;” Themistocles, to whom may be fairly ascribed the victory at Salamis; Simonides, gentle and patient, the poet of nationality and patriotism; Aristophanes, the great father, and Menander, the acknowledged master of Greek comedy; Pericles, the “Olympian Zeus of oratory,” a great statesman and one of the most remarkable characters of Greece; Plato, whose name is synonymous with all that is most exalted in idealism; Xenophon, a friend and pupil of Socrates, and to whom the world is indebted for “Memorabilia,” “Anabasis,” and “Cyropædia;” Demosthenes, known to oratory as the “greatest Hellenic star;” Isocrates, his contemporary, the distinguished rhetorician; Philip of Macedon, the famous father of a more famous son; great Alexander, “Child of Zeus,” “Son of Peleus,” familiar to every schoolboy as the greatest of military conquerors.